Steph Curry's injury won't slow down Warriors' money making fast break
Tonight the Golden State Warriors will play their third game at the spanking new $1.4 billion Chase Center against the San Antonio Spurs and the first this season without its superstar guard Steph Curry, who broke his hand on Tuesday night. The good news for the Warriors though is that Curry's injury may not be a costly break to the team at all.
The Warriors, based on winning three NBA championships in five years, have been the hot ticket in the Bay Area for more than seven years, boasting a sell-out streak of 343 straight games that started in Oakland's Oracle Arena. Despite the loss of Curry, as well as backcourt mate Klay Thompson out with an ACL tear and the free agency departure of former Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, the Warriors before this season began according to ESPN, were pulling in $3.4 million in gate revenue per game -- the best numbers in the league.
Those figures will not dip in the move to San Francisco's glimmering Chase Center. For "regular" seats, Front Office Sports reports that there is a waiting list of 44,000 people for tickets. So expect more sellouts.
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry looks at the Los Angeles Lakers' bench during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
The "old" arena featured 72 luxury suites. The Chase Center offers 32 lounges, 34 mini-suites/theater boxes and 44 club suites. Eight of the courtside lounges are priced at $2.25 million annually. The other options start at $350,000 and go up to $1.3 million.
On the court, thus far on the season, the Warrior's start has been slow, with a 1-3 won/loss record, although it's far too early to project how the season will go from that, but few NBA watchers were predicting a return to the NBA Finals -- and that was before Curry's broken hand.
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Dieter Kurtenbach of San Jose Mercury News wrote, "Curry’s injury means this Warriors season is lost. It was probably already lost, but now it’s official. The Warriors now need to do everything they can to maximize their 2020-2021 season. That means even more minutes for young players and building up their 2020 NBA Draft lottery odds."
The team will, in all likelihood, have to rally around longtime power forward Draymond Green, along with young but emerging guard D'Angelo Russell, who was acquired over the summer and Villanova rookie Eric Paschall.
Two days before Curry broke his hand, longtime New York Times NBA writer Marc Stein penned this opinion: "The reality, though, is that the Warriors will be just fine if they miss the 2020 postseason. Chase Center will be full and sparkly no matter what happens."
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